How to Fix it When the iPhone Flashlight Isn't Working

If your iPhone's flashlight icon is greyed out and inaccessible, or the flashlight just won't work, there are a few things you can try to get it working again, regardless of which iPhone model you're using.

Reasons Why The Flashlight Isn't Working

There are several reasons why the iPhone flashlight function may not be working. Usually, a software bug or glitch causes the feature to malfunction but it could be that you're in the wrong power mode or just need a charge. Other times the exact cause only reveals itself with the corresponding fix. These solutions can work on any iPhone.

How to Fix the Flashlight

Follow these steps in the order listed to troubleshoot an iPhone flashlight that's not working.

1. Be sure your phone is properly charged. If there isn't enough juice left in the battery, your flashlight won't work.

   How to Know If Your iPhone Is Fast Charging

2. Turn off Low Power Mode. This is a great iPhone feature but it can disable your flashlight. You can tell Siri to turn it off or go to Settings > Battery to shut it down (it's also in the Control Center).

   How to Use iPhone Low Power Mode

3. Close the Camera app. Having the Camera app on may create a conflict between the camera's flash and the flashlight, since these both use the same bulb and, therefore, cannot be used at the same time.

4. Restart the iPhone. Many software problems and bugs can be fixed by simply restarting the device. This resets some of the temporary settings that cause apps and features to malfunction.

5. Perform a hard reset. A basic restart sometimes isn't enough to fix a problem. In some cases, you may need to do what's known as a hard reset, which is a more powerful reset.

6. Reset the iPhone settings. This process is not as dramatic as it sounds, as it doesn't erase your personal data or apps. Rather, it resets the iPhone to its default settings, something which may get the flashlight icon (and the flashlight) working again.

   Erasing the iPhone settings may delete your wallpaper.

7. Restore the iPhone to a previous backup. Restoring an iPhone from a backup is a relatively easy way to repair lost or corrupted data, which may be the reason the flashlight feature is not working.

8. Restore the iPhone to factory settings. This is a more extreme, time-consuming solution that should resolve a faulty flashlight feature. If not, you are almost certainly dealing with a hardware problem.

   A factory reset deletes the data on your iPhone, so it is critical that you back up your data before performing a factory reset.

9. Contact Apple support. You may find that the flashlight does not turn on, even when its button is lit up as normal. Is so, this is a hardware problem, so you need to contact Apple or take the phone to a licensed repair outlet. If your iPhone is still under warranty, you should be able to have it repaired for free.

   It's best not to attempt to physically fix the flashlight yourself if you suspect a hardware problem since doing so could invalidate any warranty you have on the phone. It might also worsen the problem.